1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an air conditioner, and more particularly to an indoor unit of the air conditioner which has an improved heat exchanger to improve a cooling efficiency of the air conditioner.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In general, an air conditioner is a product for satisfying a desire of human beings to live in a more comfortable environment of a room, and is used for controlling and maintaining the air of the room.
The air conditioner typically includes a compressor for compressing an evaporated refrigerant, a condenser for absorbing a heat from a compressed refrigerant and discharging the heat to an atmosphere so that the refrigerant can be liquefied, an expansion valve for reducing a pressure of the liquefied refrigerant and expanding the refrigerant, and an evaporator for absorbing a heat from an air of a room and evaporating the refrigerant. The devices are connected to each other by means of pipes which create a refrigerant pathway. The refrigerant undergoes phase changes while being repeatedly circulated through the pipes connecting the devices of the air conditioner to each other, thereby absorbing the heat from the air of the room and discharging the heat to the atmosphere.
The compressor, the condenser, and the expansion valve of the air conditioner are mounted in an outdoor unit thereof, and the evaporator of the air conditioner is mounted in an indoor unit. The evaporator and condenser are used as heat exchanger for absorbing the heat by means of the refrigerant and discharging the heat from the refrigerant, wherein since the condenser is mounted in the outdoor unit of the air conditioner, the condenser is not restricted with respect to a size, whereas since the evaporator is mounted in the indoor unit of the air conditioner, the evaporator is restricted with respect to the size in consideration of the heat exchange efficiency and the aesthetic quality of the indoor unit of the air conditioner.
Accordingly, various efforts for reducing the size of the indoor unit of the air conditioner and improving the heat exchange efficiency of the heat exchanger have been recently tried. One method for reducing the size of the indoor unit is bending once a fin assembly of the heat exchanger at a predetermined angle. In this case, the height of the heat exchanger is somewhat lowered so that the total size of the indoor unit can be reduced. An other method for reducing the size of the indoor unit is bending twice a fin assembly of the heat exchanger. In this case, the fin assembly is bent to form an obtuse angle between the lower portion and the intermediate portion thereof and to form an acute angle between the intermediate portion and the upper portion thereof so as to have an upside down V shape. Accordingly, even though the heat exchange efficiency of the heat exchanger is not reduced, the total size of the indoor unit can be further reduced since bending the fin assembly twice rather than bending the fin assembly once can reduce the height of the heat exchanger.
Korean Patent laid-open publication 95-6368 filed by Kabushiki Kasha Fagots General on May 20, 1994 discloses an indoor unit of an air conditioner which can be easily cleaned and has a compact size.
FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of an indoor unit of an air conditioner having a heat exchanger according to the Korean patent laid-open publication, and FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the indoor unit of the air conditioner having the heat exchanger in FIG. 1. Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, indoor unit 10 of the air conditioner according to the Korean patent laid-open publication of Fagots General includes a frame body 11, a front cover 12 incorporated with frame body 11 and having air inlets 19 and 20 at the upper surface and the front surface, respectively and an air outlet 21 at the lower portion of the front surface, a filter 13 which is disposed at the front surface of front cover 12, for filtering dust from an air sucked through air inlets 19 and 20, a sucking grille 14 removably attached to the front surface of front cover 12, a heat exchanger 15 which is arranged in frame body 11 and is bent twice to have an upside down V shape at the upper portion, for absorbing a heat from the air sucked in frame body 11, and a blower 16 arranged between heat exchanger 15 and a side wall of frame body 15.
An air pathway chamber 18 is defined in frame 17 of frame body 11. Blower 16 sucks the air of the room through sucking grille 14, filter 13, and air inlets 19 and 20 of front cover 12, and discharges through air outlet 21 the air which passes through heat exchanger 15 and flows into air pathway chamber 18.
In indoor unit 10 of the air conditioner of Fagots General according to the Korean Patent laid-open publication, heat exchanger 15, which is bent twice to have the upside down V shape at the upper portion thereof, is arranged in air pathway chamber 18 connecting air inlets 19 and 20 and air outlet 21 of front cover 12 to each other, and blower 16 is arranged between the fin assembly of heat exchanger 15 and the side wall of frame body 11, thereby reducing the height of indoor unit 10 of air conditioner.
However, there are problems in that since heat exchanger 15 mounted in indoor unit 10 of air conditioner of Fagots General must be bent twice, it is difficult to make heat exchanger 15, and since heat exchanger 15 is bent in the upside down V shape at the upper portion, the bending portion at the upper portion of heat exchanger 15 is easily damaged by a small outer impact.